美国国家公共电台 NPR--Proposition 31 passes in California: flavored tobacco will be banned

（单词翻译）

Proposition 31 passes in California: flavored tobacco will be banned

Transcript¹

Californians voted overwhelmingly to uphold a ban on flavored tobacco products — including e-cigarettes. Anti-smoking advocates hope more states and federal regulators will follow.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

Californians this week voted to uphold the state's ban on all flavored tobacco products. NPR's Yuki Noguchi reports, anti-smoking advocates hope more states and federal regulators will follow.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE²: The state's flavor ban includes e-cigarettes, which have skyrocketed in popularity among teenagers. For several years around 2010, young people had largely stopped smoking. Tobacco use fell rapidly from over a third of teens to about 5%. Then the arrival and marketing³ of vaping reversed that. Matt Myers says tobacco flavors like strawberry cheesecake and cotton candy introduced a new generation to nicotine⁴.

MATT MYERS: Flavors hook kids. Eighty-five percent of kids who use e-cigarettes use flavored e-cigarettes.

NOGUCHI: Myers is president of the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. He says California's ban will hamper⁵ the tobacco industry's ability to market to young people and the Black community, which he says have been disproportionately targeted by the marketing of flavored products.

MYERS: The overwhelming size of the California vote, I think, will send a message to other states and hopefully to the Food and Drug Administration.

NOGUCHI: Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., have already adopted measures like California's. The FDA is undergoing extensive review of all e-cigarette products and is requiring approval for them to remain on the market. Last month, the agency rejected its first menthol e-cigarette product. In fact, regulators all around the world are turning against flavored tobacco. The European Union, the U.K. and Canada have removed menthol from their markets. Robert Jackler is a professor at Stanford and expert on tobacco marketing. He says flavors attract children to tobacco by reducing its harsh taste, which makes it easier to become addicted⁶ to nicotine.

ROBERT JACKLER: Although there are some adults who might like cotton candy-flavored e-cigarettes - that's true - there's a major differential appeal to young people for sweet and fruity flavors.

NOGUCHI: Jackler hopes regulators will also reduce the concentration of nicotine in e-cigarettes and tax them heavily to make them unaffordable for kids. California's law, which also affects menthol cigarettes, will take effect shortly after the vote is certified⁷.

Yuki Noguchi, NPR News.